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Siesta Key
Friday, Nov. 18, 2011
3 years ago

In the Public Eye: Randall 'Randy' Reid

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by:
Rachel Brown Hackney
Managing Editor

Age: 57Home: GainesvilleEducation: Bachelor of Arts in public administration, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; and a master’s degree in public administration, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.Profession: Selected Nov. 15 by the Sarasota County Commission to be the new county administrator; contract negotiations are under way.
Background: After working first as an intern and seasonal employee in the city government of his hometown, Vandalia, Ohio, Reid served as assistant city manager there, from 1976 to 1981. His marriage in 1980 led to his and his spouse’s relocation to Green River, Wyoming, where he was the city administrator from 1981 to 1987. According to Reid, during his tenure at Green River he “took the community from very inadequate facilities, with some people living in teepees (and in vehicles), to a full-service community.”

Reid's spouse’s health concerns led to their moving to Titusville, where he served as manager and executive director of the community redevelopment agency from 1987 to 1994. The city had 16,000 NASA employees among its residents. Reid ended up being the longest-serving city manager Titusville had had at the time.

One of his proudest accomplishments in that community, he said, was seeing the passage of the Indian River Lagoon Act, an early environmental initiative to improve water quality.

In Martin County, where Reid next served as deputy/acting manager, among his achievements included working to transform an abandoned college campus into an environmental education area.

As manager of Alachua County since 1999, Reid pointed out in his resume and in his discussion with the Sarasota County Commission, he has been involved in numerous capital projects, including overseeing the construction of a criminal justice complex and a social services/health center. He instituted LEEDS standards and prepared an award-winning comprehensive plan, along with establishing an environmental lands acquisition program.

Reid told the County Commission Nov. 15, ‘I’ve always thought Sarasota County was one of a handful of counties … that tried to have the synergy or balance between environmental preservation, economic development and trying to look at the culture and the social fabric of the community.”

Regarding the county’s efforts to rectify problems that resulted last spring in a Procurement Department scandal, Reid said, “I think you’re following the course of action that is appropriate … You have to constantly train people on your systems.”